Garner enters guilty plea

LUBBOCK - In a surprise turn of events Thursday, John Miller "Corkey" Garner entered a plea of guilty to a lesser charge in the June 4, 1998, shooting death of Quitaque businessman Roye Pigg.

In exchange for his pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony, Garner, 63, will receive five years' probation. He must reimburse Briscoe County for court costs and pay $5,000 restitution to the Pigg family.

The plea bargain was reached shortly before 5 p.m. after the defense began presenting its case. Lubbock defense attorney Danny Hurley called two witnesses - Scott Garner and Kirk Garner - the defendant's two sons.

After Thursday's proceedings, George Pigg, son of the slain chamber of commerce president, said family members were relieved, and he thanked special prosecutor John Mann.

"We're grateful that this chapter of our life is over," Pigg said. "The communities of Quitaque, Turkey and Silverton have really supported us along the way. We really couldn't have asked for a better (district attorney)."

Pigg declined to comment on why the family accepted the plea arrangement.

Mann, however, said the plea was the best way to resolve what became a 15-month ordeal and will continue with a $2.5 million civil suit against Garner in November.

"This is the way the family wanted it resolved, and this will probably serve them better than anything I could have done," Mann said.

Hurley said he had mixed emotions about the plea, which came against his advice.

"I'm very pleased to have this part of the case over," Hurley said. "But I really didn't want this because I feel in my heart he's not guilty of any crime. My client chose not to risk the possibility of being sent to the penitentiary."

Hurley contended that Garner shot Pigg in self-defense because the defendant was drunk, didn't have his glasses on and thought the longtime Quitaque resident was an intruder.

In yet another turn, Garner took the stand in his own defense after the guilty plea and answered questions from Hurley and Mann.

During his testimony, he said he was "very sorry" for what happened to Pigg, a man whom he said he considered a good friend.

"If I'd known it was Roye, I sure wouldn't have," Garner told Mann during cross-examination when asked whether he would have acted the same if put in the same situation again.

The defendant described the events of the morning he shot Pigg after a night of drinking at the victim's bar, the Sportsman Cafe, a restaurant and club known as the town's main hangout.

Garner said Pigg apparently entered the house while he was in his bathroom. Upon hearing what sounded like his back door being opened, he came out of the bathroom and reached for his .22-caliber rifle from a gun rack by the bathroom door, he said.

As soon as he saw what he described as a figure in the dark, he fired a shot and cocked the gun to fire again, then didn't.

"It seemed to back off," Garner said of the dark figure. "And I was backing off the other way. I backed down the hall and hunkered down and waited. I was very scared."

Pigg went out the rear door of his home, through the garage and collapsed at the front of Garner's silver Corvette.

Garner said he discovered who he shot the next morning in jail when he called a friend to check on his house.